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Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Fokker D.VIII

Here are some images of Dragon Models 1/48 scale Fokker D.VIII.

From Wikipedia"The Fokker E.V was a Germanparasol-monoplane fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz and built by Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. The E.V was the last Fokker design to become operational with the Luftstreitkräfte, entering service in the last months of World War I. After several fatal accidents due to wing failures, the aircraft was modified and redesignated Fokker D.VIII. Dubbed the Flying Razor by Allied pilots, the D.VIII had the distinction of scoring the last aerial victory of the war.

In early 1918, Fokker produced several rotary-powered monoplane prototypes. Of these, Fokker submitted the V.26 and V.28, small parasol-winged monoplanes with his usual steel-tube fuselages, for the second fighter trials at Adlershof in May/June 1918. The V.28 was tested with both the 108 kW (145 hp) Oberursel UR.III
and 119 kW (160 hp) Goebel Goe.III, though neither of these engines
were ready for operational service. The V.26 utilized the standard Oberursel
UR.II engine, producing only 82 kW (110 hp). While this engine was
obsolete, the V.26's low drag and light weight meant that it was
nevertheless quite fast. The Fokker designs were only barely beaten by
the Siemens-Schuckert D.III with the complex bi-rotary Siemens-Halske Sh.III engine.In the end, the V.26 was ordered into production as the Fokker E.V.
Four hundred were ordered immediately with either the UR.III or
Goe.III. Because neither engine was available in any quantity, all
production examples mounted the UR.II.

Operational history

Fokker E.V

Fokker E.V

The first production E.V aircraft were shipped to Jasta 6 in late July. The new monoplane was also delivered to Jasta 1, Jasta 19, Jasta 24 and Jasta 36. Leutnant
Emil Rolff scored the first kill in an E.V on August 17, 1918, but two
days later he was killed when his aircraft's wing collapsed in flight.
After another E.V of Jasta 19 crashed, Idflieg
grounded all E.V aircraft. Pending the investigation of these wing
failures, production ceased at the Fokker Flugzeugwerke. According to
Fokker, the wing failures were caused by the army technical bureau,
which had forced him to modify the original design by over-strengthening
the rear main spar.
This faulty design allegedly caused the wing to twist and fail. Fokker
claimed that this defect was resolved by reverting to his original
design.According to most other accounts, the source of the wing failures lay
not in the design, but in shoddy and rushed construction. Fokker had
subcontracted construction of the E.V wings to the Gebrüder Perzina
Pianoforte Fabrik factory. Due to poor quality control, inferior timber
had been used and the spar "caps", forming the upper and lower members
of each spar assembly, had been placed too far apart during the
fabrication. Because the resulting spars were vertically too large to
pass through the ribs, excess material was simply planed away from the
exposed upper and lower surfaces of the cap pieces, leaving the
assembled spars dangerously weak. Other problems included water damage
to glued parts, and pins that splintered the spars, rather than securing
them.[1]Tests showed that, when properly constructed, the original E.V wing
had a considerable margin of safety. Satisfied that the basic design was
safe, Idflieg
authorized continued production, after personnel changes and improved
quality control measures were introduced at the Perzina factory.Deliveries resumed in October. At the direction of the Kogenluft (Kommandierenden General der Luftstreitkräfte), Idflieg redesignated the modified aircraft D.VIII.
Henceforth, the "E." and "Dr." designations were abolished and all
fighters received the "D." appellation. The D.VIII commenced operations
on 24 October with Jasta 11. The aircraft proved to be agile and easy to fly. Allied pilots nicknamed it the Flying Razor, because of its sleek appearance and single wing.Jasta 5 was issued a D.VIII. The famed ace Erich Lowenhardt used the aircraft for a short time and scored a few victories in it, but he continued to favour the Fokker D.VII.A total of 381 aircraft were produced, but only some 85 aircraft
reached frontline service before the Armistice. Some reached Italy,
Japan, the United States, and England as trophies, but most were
scrapped in accordance with the terms of the Armistice.

Postwar

The Polish Air Force
captured 17 aircraft, but only seven (six E.V and one D.VIII) were in
airworthy condition. All were used against Soviet forces in the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1920. Lieutenant Stefan Stec earned the first kill for the Polish Air Force, by shooting down a UkrainianNieuport fighter on 29 April 1919. In 1921, the remaining Fokkers were withdrawn from front-line units and transferred to the Szkoła Obsługi Lotniczej (Air Personnel School) at Poznań-Ławica airfield.

V 29 : Larger version of the V.27 initially fitted with a 160 hp (119 kW) Mercedes D.III and later with a 185 hp (138 kW) BMW IIIa, both inline water-cooled engines. Participated in the third D-type competition.